The Loons – College Essay Example

with no care and no one to look out for her. She was not happy in Manawaka. Her mother left when she was a child and her father made her do all of the cooking and work around the house. This resulted in her becoming a bitter and unhappy person.

She never had a break or a real opportunity to be a child. You can see this when Ewen Tonnerre says to his family, “’The mother’s not there, she took off a few years back. Can’t say I blame her. Piquette cooks for them, and she says Lazarus would never do anything for himself as long as she’s there’” (p. 250). As well as the uncaring family, Piquette had tuberculosis of the bone, which caused her stress and unhappiness. She had to be absent from school for treatment and rest, which gave her no desire to go to school and she was unable to develop proper social skills.

When Piquette finally moved away from her hometown, she was unable to find a place of belonging and settled for a man who didn’t treat her well and left her with two children. She lost desire to live and died in an accident that could have been prevented. Her negative upbringing caused her to live a miserable life which led to her death. The loons that lived on Diamond Lake were used by Laurence to represent Piquette, how her environment affected her life and her desire to live. The loons’ environment was invaded by people who didn’t care for them, in result they couldn’t adapt to this change.

It is similar to Piquette being unable to adapt to her husband

leaving, but contrasts to Vanessa being able to deal with her father’s death. When humans invaded and changed the loons’ environment, it made them unhappy with their home and surroundings. Vanessa describes the loons’ absence as, “Perhaps they had gone away to some far place of belonging. Perhaps they had been unable to find such a place, and had simply died out, having ceased to care any longer whether they lived or not” (p. 256). You can see the resemblance between the loons and Piquette, each being affected negatively by their environment.

The changes in the loons’ environment caused them to lose their desire to live. The message that Laurence shared in “Loons” is that everyone is affected by their environment. Vanessa had a positive upbringing and was happy, which enabled her to adapt to changes in her life, led her to college and find her place of belonging. Piquette’s family did not support or care for her. She ended up letting herself go and dying in a fire. The loon’s depended on their environment and when it changed they weren’t able to adapt. As seen in this essay, we should take into consideration a person’s environment, when looking at who they are.